Hunting for monk parakeets? Puglia asks for help against the invasive species

Puglia like Madrid? Councilors and farmers in the Bari area have been hoping for it in recent days: with the support of the Region they have made an urgent request for a plan for the eradication of the famous “green budgies”. Only a few weeks ago, after a campaign that lasted over three years and cost almost 3 million euros, Madrid announced that it had ended its “containment” plan for the famous monk parakeetswhich they call “Argentine cotorra”, given that it is an invasive species that arrived from South America but capable – in Spain as in Italy – of proliferating thanks to the new temperatures dictated by the climate crisis and the presence of food.

TO Madrid history teaches us: sighted for the first time in 1985, the famous green parrots have reproduced non-stop. Between 2005 and 2021 in just over fifteen years they increased by 665%: the damage to agriculturewith “green” clouds of birds busy targeting fruits and buds, have been estimated at thousands of euros.

In addition, residents said they were exhausted by the noise: it is a particularly noisy species and whose specimens are capable of occupying in large numbers different trees where they build nests weighing up to two hundred kiloscomparable to the fate of condominiums for birds.

Not without controversy on the part of associations in defense of animalsthe Spanish capital has taken action since 2021 by targeting nests and specimens: the number of animals has been reduced by 30% and a few days ago a newfound “balance” was announced by the Municipality, so much so that any suppression plans they will no longer be necessary (for now).

Now, in the Italy that gives the blue crab hunting and ai wild boarscommitted to fighting against alien species often introduced by man and whose existence is facilitated by new temperatures, even in certain areas of the peninsula, monk parakeets are creating more and more problems.

If a Romewhere they are easily spotted, their presence seems more tolerated, among the countryside Terlizzi, Molfetta, Ruvo or Alta Murgia, they can’t stand those green clouds anymore. They have known them for at least twenty years: first settlements were recorded in the Molfetta area, then – in Puglia committed to fighting against Xylella fastidiosa – they began to notice them over time even further up, towards the Foggia area.

The problem is that with the blossoming of spring hundreds of birds have now targeted the crops, from almonds to figs, with damage estimated at “thousands of euros”. Recently the Coldiretti from Puglia indicated how the “wild animals” in Puglia, from wild boars to the blue crab, are now responsible for losses quantified at 30 million euros and even the parrots ended up on the growers’ blacklist. So it happened that in the last few days, from Giovinazzo to Bitonto, local politicians and councilors have requested immediate plans for hunting parrots.

The words of the regional councilor for Agriculture then came to lend a hand to the institutions of the north of Bari, Donato Pentassuglia who argued that “the monk parrot has colonized part of the province of Bari, in particular starting from the area north of the Apulian capital, initially affecting the municipalities of Molfetta and Terlizzi, and then extending first into the cities adjacent to them and , subsequently, to the city of Bari and the inland towns, such as for example Modugno, Bitritto, Bitetto and those to the south of the Apulian capital which Torre a Mare, Triggiano, Mola di Bari, Rutigliano and Noicattaro“.

From here, after initial discussions with ISPRA, and after groups of citizens joined together in projects to try to map them, the authorities invited the ATC (territorial hunting area) of Bari/Bat to plan a plan census to understand the numbers and presence of the species. The subsequent aim is “to structure a containment plan capable of defining, in clear and precise terms, the consistency of the monk parakeet population, its population dynamics, the areas in which it actually exists, the bearing capacity of the territory (if there is a lift for an alien species) and above all the breeding areas and which therefore allows us to propose a containment plan in which the reduction objectives are declared, which, moreover, must be agreed and approved by Ispra” the authorities inform.

In the Italy of the difficult coexistence between man and nature in which more and more often, from bears to wild boarswe find ourselves discussing with different positions on the need or otherwise of containment interventions, following the news relaunched by some local newspapers on the possible future parrot hunting a flurry of protests followed against the idea of ​​eradicating them.

The well-known naturalist also intervened on the topic with a tweet Nicola Bressi explaining that “it’s business as usual. Millions of brown marmorated stink bugs are exterminated: zero protests. If instead it is only proposed to eliminate a few hundred parrots: heaven forbid! It’s not ecology. Much less animalism: just selfishness. ‘I want animals that people like to me'”.

Also for this reason, for the reactions that a future action to contain parrots could trigger – while associations such as the CIA Agricoltori Levante ask for an “immediate start of the containment plan” – the regional councilor Pentassuglia puts your hands forward. “It must not be overlooked that any reduction intervention, even if carried out with the aim of protecting the biodiversity, could activate counteracting movements (which are already active) on the part of citizens who are not inclined to understand the motivations behind the action. Therefore, it is important that one is initiated correct and constant communication campaign that proceeds hand in hand with scientific and technical activity in the field”, concludes the councilor.

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